Common Caraway

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Common caraway (lat. Carum carvi) - herbaceous biennial of the genus Caraway of the family Umbrella (lat. Apiaceae). One of the most common representatives of the genus. It is often referred to as thyme, wild anise, field anise, gunboy and goat. It occurs naturally in European countries, the European part of Russia, Pakistan, India and the Caucasus. Typical habitats are floodplain meadows and sparse forests. Nowadays, common caraway is used in alternative medicine and the culinary field as a spice.

Characteristics of culture

Common caraway is represented by biennial herbaceous plants up to 1 m high, equipped with single straight stems smooth over the entire surface. In the upper part, the stems are rather branched. The root is relatively powerful, always fleshy, can be cylindrical or fusiform. The foliage of the culture under consideration is oblong, complex, twice or three times dissected, ovoid, endowed with thin linear lobes with a sharp tip. The basal foliage, in turn, is long-petiolate, the upper one is short-petiolized.

The flowers are small, inconspicuous, can be pink or white, collected in umbellate inflorescences, which are formed at the top of the stem and the tips of its branches. The fruit of common caraway is represented by oblong, slightly flattened brown droplets. By the time they ripen, they fall into two parts, which are called semi-fruits (mericarps). The plant is endowed with a pronounced aroma, which intensifies when the fruits are rubbed.

Application

It should be noted that the composition of common caraway contains a huge amount of essential oil, which is actively used in cosmetology, cooking and the medical field. It is also famous for its high content of coumarins, tannins, proteins, flavonoids, quracetin and other components designed to support human health. In the roots, in turn, there is a lot of vitamin C (otherwise ascorbic acid), therefore they are advised as an antiscorbutic agent.

Decoctions from seeds and fruits are recommended for poisoning, accompanied by a disorder of the digestive system, vomiting and cuts in the abdomen. They are also effective in the absence of appetite, disturbances in the work of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory diseases, including bronchitis. In the latter case, decoctions contribute to the discharge of phlegm and its elimination from the bronchi.

Essential oil of caraway is famous for no less efficiency. It is recommended for skin diseases, but not in its pure form, but in conjunction with a basic vegetable oil, for example, olive, coconut, karite. Also, essential oil is advised for the creation of cosmetics, both for the skin and hair. And the essential oil of the culture in question is actively used in the medical industry as a flavoring agent for medicines.

In culinary activities, both fruits and essential oil of caraway seeds are used, less often freshly harvested foliage and young stems. The latter are added to salads, pates and soups. The first two are used for pickling and salting vegetables, as well as pickling cabbage. Common caraway seeds and alcoholic beverages have not been bypassed, the fruits are used to flavor alcoholic beverages and give them unusual spicy notes.

The fruits of caraway are used in confectionery and bakery production. It is often included in cracker recipes and many types of bread, for example, Borodinsky. Transforms spice and meat dishes, especially lamb. The saturation of the pleasant aroma of fish dishes is also subject to ordinary caraway.